Eight former SpaceX engineers have filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, claiming they were illegally fired after they raised their concerns about alleged sexual harassment and discrimination of women.
The eight engineers – including four men and four women – argue that Musk personally ordered their firings after they signed an open letter in 2022 calling the billionaire CEO a ‘distraction and embarrassment’ and urged executives at the company to disavow comments he made on social media.
They cited a series of tweets Musk made in which he referenced his penis, and claim he fostered a ‘pervasive sexist culture’ at the rocket manufacturer where female engineers were subjected to harassment and sexist comments, and their concerns went ignored.
‘These actions… had the foreseeable and actual result of offending, causing distress and intruding upon Plaintiffs’ well-being, so as to disrupt their emotional tranquility in the workplace,’ reads the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in California state court in Los Angeles.
Elon Musk is being sued by eight former engineers at SpaceX for wrongful termination
The suit claims Musk violated state and federal discrimination law, and is directly responsible for the culture at SpaceX and the plaintiffs’ terminations.
It says the CEO ‘runs his company in the Dark Ages – treating women as sexual objects to be evaluated by their bra size, bombarding the workplace with lewd sexual banter and offering the reprise to those who challenge the Animal House environment that if they don’t like it, they can seek employment elsewhere.’
As a result, high ranking engineers would feel comfortable using euphemisms for sexual acts and referring to rocket parts as male genitals, according to the lawsuit, obtained by Daily Mail.
In one instance, Plaintiff Paige Holland-Thielen described how a higher-ranking employee responded to a graph of plotted data by making a ‘sexual allusion to an erect penis’ and asking her ‘How can we get it up, up, up?’
She said she reported the matter to human resources, but never learned of the outcome.
One of the plaintiffs, Paige Holland-Thielen, said she hopes the lawsuit ‘encourages our colleagues to stay strong and to keep fighting for a better workplace’
Rebekah Clark, another former engineer at SpaceX, also claims in the suit that she heard her colleagues make comments about breasts at work after Musk made a sexually-charged comment on X.
She said she raised her concerns to managers at the company at a meeting in 2022 and was told, ‘SpaceX is Elon and Elon is SpaceX.’
Meanwhile, Claire Mallon said she reported a male colleague to human resources for repeatedly bringing up sexually-explicit topics with her, and inviting her to a sex party.
But, she said, the company ‘did not take any discernible action’ and the employee in question was actually promoted.
The plaintiffs claim Musk fostered an environment at SpaceX in which sexual harassment and assault were pervasive
The eight engineers who filed the lawsuit on Wednesday are also at the center of a US National Labor Relations Board case, claiming that their firings violated their right to band together and advocate for better working conditions under US labor law.
It claimed that executives ‘interrogated employees about the letter, disparaged workers who were involved and threatened to fire workers who engage in similar activity.’
But SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the Labor Relations Board, arguing that its in-house enforcement proceedings violate the US Constitution and an appeals court last month paused the board’s case against the company while it considers the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs are now seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, and an order barring SpaceX from continuing to engage in the alleged unlawful conduct.
The lawsuit came the same day as allegations that Musk personally pursued some of his subordinates at the company
In a statement provided by her lawyers, Holland-Thielen said she also hopes that the lawsuit ‘encourages our colleagues to stay strong and to keep fighting for a better workplace.’
SpaceX executives, however, have denied any wrongdoing and said the workers were properly fired for violating company policy.
They also noted to the Wall Street Journal that the company investigates all complaints of harassment and takes appropriate actions.
And they denied that Musk was involved in the decision to fire the engineers, and described their 2022 open letter as disruptive to the workplace.
But the lawsuit came the same day as allegations that Musk personally pursued some of his subordinates – including an intern who was hired not long after she finished college, and a woman whom he asked to bear his children.
Musk even allegedly had a month-long sexual relationship with a third women who reported to him directly.
Musk allegedly asked a female subordinate to bear his children, and had relationships with some of the employees
He began his relationship with the then-intern in the early 2010s, when she was in college studying engineering, according to the Journal.
Musk took the girl out for a meal, and she proceeded to tell him her ideas about how to improve the company.
They then kissed after they bonded over their shared love of Star Wars, the Journal reports.
By 2017, Musk offered the new graduate a role on his executive staff and would ask her to visit his house or go get drinks, the Journal reports.
He even reportedly told the woman at one point, ‘Oh I’m so bad, I shouldn’t be doing this.’
In another instance, Musk allegedly texted the woman to ask if she was coming over – and when she did not answer, he wrote that it’s ‘probably best if we don’t see each other.’
The woman replied the following day, apologizing for not replying – saying that she had already fallen asleep.
Later that day, she would later confide in a friend that she had ‘mild anxiety resulting from imposter syndrome,’ which ‘definitely makes this job harder.’
The friend then suggested that her anxiety is ‘definitely exacerbated by Elon’s behavior,’ to which the woman replied ‘so badly,’ according to the Journal.
The woman was later reassigned to another role, and left the company in 2019, the Journal reports.
Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer, has denied the allegations
But in a sworn affidavit, the woman in question denied ever having a ‘romantic relationship’ with Musk.
‘Elon tried to rekindle our relationship prior to my employment and I rejected the advance,’ she claimed.
‘While there was some initial awkwardness, it was nothing out of the ordinary after a rejection.’
She also claimed that her dissatisfaction with her job at SpaceX had nothing to do with Musk, but rather other’s opinions as a young employee.
Musk also allegedly began a sexual relationship with another female employee, who would spend 17 hour days with him after she was accused by Gwynne Shotwell, the president and chief operating officer, of having an affair with her husband.
The female employee grew closer to Musk as Shotwell allegedly tried to fire her, and the two began a relationship while the Tesla CEO was in the middle of divorce proceedings with British actress Telulah Riley.
But the relationship only lasted a few weeks, and ended after the woman told her friends she felt she was being used and Musk had no desire to be seen in public with her.
That female employee would also go on to leave the company and was forced to sign a non-disclosure agreement, according to the Journal.
In exchange, she was paid $85,000 for unpaid work she did earlier for Tesla.
Shotwell denied the allegations in a statement to the Journal.
‘The untruths, mischaracterizations, revisionist history in your email paint a completely misleading narrative,’ she said.
‘I continue to be amazed by what this extraordinary group of people are achieving every day even amidst all the forces acting against us. And Elon is one of the best humans I know.’
DailyMail.com has also reached out to SpaceX for comment.